Given all of the amount of stress working Americans experience, complete with tension and muscle aches, it’s not surprising that they occasionally take a day or two off from work. According to The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 40% of workers within the United States claim that their jobs are “very or extremely stressful.” Due to their positions, 66% of both male and female employees state that they experience a significant level of stress. This leads to one out of four employees calling in sick or taking a “mental health day.” Recent findings show that roughly one million employees within the country are absent from work on a daily basis due to workplace stress.

It’s interesting to note that adults averaged eight hours of sleep a night in 1942. Currently, however, the average amount of sleep per night has been reduced to 6.8 hours. This appears to be the case for approximately 60 million people within the United States. While many Americans lose sleep or experience sleep disorders due to daily stress at work, others may do so because they don’t have a healthy work-life balance.

While the average recommended amount of sleep for adults is seven to nine hours, 42% of adults usually sleep less than seven hours. As a result, this can make a significant difference in a person’s energy levels and cognitive abilities. Furthermore, a lack of sufficient sleep has also been known to impact a person’s ability to focus and overall health.

Studies show that when people receive enough sleep, they tend to have a more positive outlook on life and experience more feelings of well-being. This usually occurs with people that have eight hours of sleep and then levels off at this point. When people also have a well-balanced life, this, too, can make a difference in their overall state-of-being and impacts how they may handle workplace stress and conflict.

There are a variety of ways to treat the muscle aches, stress, and fatigue associated with workplace stress. Essential oils, for example, have been used for thousands of years for therapeutic purposes such as this. So, too, have various types of heating pads, such as aromatherapy heating pads. While it does depend on the individual and where they tend to hold tension in their body, aromatherapy heating pads may relieve neck, shoulder, lower back, and other types of pain, such as tension headaches.

Lavender, in particular, has been demonstrated to assist some individuals with relieving stress. Furthermore, it has also been demonstrated to be an effective sleep aid for many people. When used in conjunction with a microwaveable neck or shoulder wrap, lavender can help to reduce muscle tension and create an overall feeling of relaxation.

Since part of staying healthy includes receiving sufficient sleep and finding positive ways to relieve stress and tension, using aromatherapy heating pads at home may be helpful. Given the amount of American workers that call in sick or otherwise take time off due to stressful work conditions, aromatherapy heating pads could also be used at work to provide stress relief. Employers should also be encouraged to be aware of their workers’ stress levels and to offer proactive ways to reduce these when possible.